BF CITILAND CORPORATION, PETITIONER, VS. MARILYN B. OTAKE, RESPONDENT. G.R. No. 173351, July 29, 2010.
“However, in numerous cases, this Court has allowed liberal construction of the rules when to do so would serve the demands of substantial justice. Dismissal of appeals purely on technical grounds is frowned upon. It is better to excuse a technical lapse rather than dispose of a case on technicality, giving a false impression of speedy disposal of cases while actually resulting in more delay, if not a miscarriage of justice.3 In the present case, a dismissal on a technicality would only mean a new round of litigation between the same parties for the same cause of action, over the same subject matter. Thus, notwithstanding petitioner’s wrong mode of appeal, the Court of Appeals should not have so easily dismissed the petition.”
